Program Computes For Area Schools

Susan Crawford, a teacher and technology
coordinator for Big Sandy school district, and Craig Coker,
who works in the Livingston school district's distribution
center, (second and third from left) accepted 30 refurbished
computers on behalf of their schools on Monday morning.
With them are (from left) Property coordinator Wayne Frosch,
computer science lecturer Li-Jen Shannon and department
chair Peter Cooper.

This Thanksgiving, two area school districts have a little
something extra to be thankful for.

Working to fulfill a need for computers at the Big Sandy
and the Livingston school districts, the SHSU computer science
department donated a total of 30 refurbished computers to
the districts on Monday (Nov. 20).

"For most small schools, we pretty much depend on donations
from industries and places like Sam Houston," said Susan
Crawford, a teacher and technology coordinator for the Big
Sandy school district, which is a 1-A district.

The systems were refurbished by members from the Sam Houston
Association of Computer Scientists, using discarded university
equipment, and are given to schools that have a need for the
computers, according to computer science lecturer Li-Jen Shannon.

The annual program is part of the student organization’s
community outreach project and also falls in line with the
mission of SHSU’s American Democracy Project, of which
computer science department chair Peter Cooper is a member,
he said.

“It benefits us in the sense that it helps our students
learn,” Cooper said. “Most of that time (spent
working on the computers during the semester) was getting
the students to the point where they understood what they
were doing before they built these machines.

“It benefits the university because it gives us another
connection with the school districts, but it also benefits
the school districts because they can target their technology
funds to additional areas and not have to worry about these
particular machines,” he said.

Over the past three years, the computer science department
and SHACS have donated six computers to Livingston, four to
Shepherd school districts and 15 computers to Big Sandy.

The 15 computers initially received by Big Sandy school district
allowed for one computer to be placed in every elementary
classroom and have been used for learning games, the Internet
and accelerated math and reading programs, Crawford said.